Do you say prayers?

Yes, I started praying more during lock down (there wasn't much else to do!) now I pray at various times in the day and for various reasons.
It helps- more than expensive counselling or any other self-help fad has.
Yes, I do pray on my knees too in the morning once I've made my bed.
At night I pray with a phone app under the covers and mostly fall asleep in the process!
It has become so embedded I cannot imagine my life without it now.

I don’t believe in a god,any god so no I don’t pray.I have a very good friend currently literally on his deathbed who hasn’t,t missed mass every day for most of his life even now he gets the nurse to get him dressed for mass every day.in the hospice His god deemed it right that he lost his wife in her 30s leaving him with two young children now he,ll leave them orphans in their 20,s .I don’t have any good thoughts about a “Higher being” who wrecks lives…I,ve watched him get weaker and in more pain day after day for over 2 years..is that the way a loving father would treat his”children” ?I want nothing to do with a god that’s cruel and uncaring .
Then look at the thousands of deaths in wars currently all or mainly religion based.
I truly believe religion is the opiate of the masses ,keeps people in their place and gives them a crutch when they can’t cope

Grandma 70s, that is so funny .

Yes I pray , and if I say I’ll pray for someone I will
Just as Aggie said!

Grandma70s

Fidelity2

I pray every night. My mother used to hear my prayers every bedtime.
Gentle Jesus meek and mild,
look upon a little child,
pity my simplicity,
suffer me to come to thee.
Please Jesus make me a good girl.
Amen

I like the story of the little girl who thought Plicity was a place mice lived in, and didn’t like very much, so she prayed

Pity mice in Plicity.

😂😂 Like ‘ Gladly, my crosseyed bear’.

Fidelity2

I pray every night. My mother used to hear my prayers every bedtime.
Gentle Jesus meek and mild,
look upon a little child,
pity my simplicity,
suffer me to come to thee.
Please Jesus make me a good girl.
Amen

I like the story of the little girl who thought Plicity was a place mice lived in, and didn’t like very much, so she prayed

Pity mice in Plicity.

Moggycuddler, the Book of Job is supposed to answer that question. I suppose you may understand the Book of Job, although I should say I don't. Fortunately it's a short book.

If you do read it, and understand its message, I'd be glad to hear from you either on this forum or by PM. Thanks.

Eggplant wrote:

"Yes, logically, I agree. But I miss the Church. It was a time when everything just stopped somehow. That and the wonderful music and hymns, melodies and words."

Real and insightful. You must go to a church that is led by a good preacher and a skilled music director, no matter which religious sect. It is so difficult for a minister to teach a congregation composed of diverse people and include something for everybody.

I do pray, and if I say I will pray for someone I do pray for them.

I like praying with others as well as alone. It's wonderful to pray with friends.

If I say I'll pray for someone I will
Although I don't think I've full belief, I somehow, and I can't explain how, have more belief in a God than just nothingness.I don't think the human race is just material. I just think /believe even that there is something more.

As a non-believer, no. I do think about anyone who is having a tough time, though.

“Living without religion if freeing” Why?
Children and loved ones still die. Tragedy still occurs. Not believing in religion doesn’t save you from hurt or pain anymore than believing does. What religion does is maybe offer some comfort to those who believe.

Moggycuddler

Gave up with religion a very long time ago when praying to an invisible something started to seem absurd. I also wondered why a loving "god" would answer the prayers of some and not others. Why does one person's beloved child die but not another's? Living without religion is freeing.

Yes, logically, I agree. But I miss the Church. It was a time when everything just stopped somehow. That and the wonderful music and hymns, melodies and words.

Macadia, why not curse God for not intervening in one of the hideous sufferings we hear of?

When someone prays, must she be praying TO some supernatural listener such as God, Christ, or the BVM?

Or does she pray "to whom it may concern-----" ?

If so, what makes her think there is a listener?

I pray but I don't think we should pray asking for things. although the bible says keep asking. When I pray, I only give thanks. nothing more than that.

I pray every night. My mother used to hear my prayers every bedtime.
Gentle Jesus meek and mild,
look upon a little child,
pity my simplicity,
suffer me to come to thee.
Please Jesus make me a good girl.
Amen

I was once with a friend going to a concert. We were cutting it fine time-wise as we waited in the queue to get into the car park. We made it by the skin of our teeth and my friend said “I knew we’d make it as I was sitting in the car praying for God to find us a car park space” ……. Whaaaaaatttttt????????

Well said * hippychick*

Marmight

No - only when in a desperate situation but from whom or what I invoke help I haven’t a clue. 5 hard years at a convent boarding school finished organised religion for me but I do find peace and consolation in choral music especially in a cathedral or church setting.

@Marmight. You don’t need organised religion.
All you need is Our Father God, Jesus, and your Bible.

Don’t let those nuns rob you of a beautiful experience with Christ.

I don’t pray regularly and grew up without a religious background, but agree with those who feel there is, or may be, a higher power. I sometimes think this higher power has gone on holiday and ,left us to it.
My DH was a true believer, unlike me with my doubts, and I envied that simplicity.
The sermon on the mount distills what I feel and man made organised religion has its faults which are all too evident. I try to think that God is love, not a paternal father figure in the heavens and there is a little bit of God in everyone. If we try to look at others in this way, we will see them differently.
.
When awestruck in nature, the thought of a higher power is at its strongest.
I love reading spiritual/mystical writings and find them very inspiring, even if I question them.
My absolute heroine is Sister Wendy and I’m reading her letters at the moment. She sums up for me a truly godly person. The goodness just shone out of her.

I’m another who can sit for ages alone in a quiet church, just light a candle and reflect.

No - only when in a desperate situation but from whom or what I invoke help I haven’t a clue. 5 hard years at a convent boarding school finished organised religion for me but I do find peace and consolation in choral music especially in a cathedral or church setting.

I love sitting in church after I have locked up, in semi darkness, with just the light from the votive candles.
It soothes the soul.

I knew a woman who had managed to complete nursing training, which had long been an ambition of hers, but was giving it up to go and work in a mission in Cyprus. She was a lovely woman, and had seen two separate references to this mission needing helpers, so she said that she first prayed that they would get helpers, then after the second reference ( in a magazine at the dentist’s if I remember correctly) she prayed again, asking God to send her a sign if he meant that she was to go. She said she told him what the sign was to be, and the sign came, so she gave up her job, house, everything, and went to Cyprus. I was amazed to hear her say she didn’t want to go, but if it was the Lord’s will, she must do it. She worked in the mission for many years until she died.
I have never encountered such faith before or since.

crazyH

When we were growing up, we always got together for the family. ‘Rosary’- in front of our altar. It was a bit monotonous and repetitive. These days, although I carry the Roasary Beads in my handbag, I do not have the patience. I go to Church, I pray, but it’s more of a ‘chat’ with God. I do say a short poem-like prayer and the same in the morning. Our church is always open. If I happen to pass by, I always pop in for a few minutes.

I love to sit in church, and am lucky to have a beautiful wee chapel near my home for visits. I always remember one of my granny’s sayings -
‘ Every time I pass the church, I try to pay a visit
So that, when I’m carried in, the Lord won’t say, ‘Who is it?’ ‘.